My thoughts on the Phillies season.

The Phils are one-step closer to not making the playoffs as they lose their final home game to the Nats, 7-3.

The Phils are closer to being eliminated as they lose their final home game to the Nats, 7-3.

The Nats took the lead in the first as, with one man out, Bryce Harper hits a solo home run, his twenty-first home run of the season, giving the Nats a 1-0 lead. The Phils took the lead in their half of the first as, with the bases loaded, via a single by Chase Utley, who then stole second base, then walks to Ryan Howard and John Mayberry, Jr., with both Utley and Howard moving up a base on Mayberry’s walk, and with two men out, Darin Ruf hits a bases-clearing double, knocking in Utley, Howard and Mayberry, giving the Phils a 3-1 lead. The Nats cut the Phils’ lead down to 3-2 in the second as Michael Morse hits a lead-off home run, his fifteenth home run of the season. The Nats tied the game up at three-all in the fourth as, with a man on third, and with one man out, Morse hits an RBI ground out, 6-3, knocking in Ryan Zimmerman, who had started the inning off with a double, then stopped at third base on Adam LaRoche’s fly out to center. The Nats retook the lead in the fifth as, with two men on, and with two men out, Harper hits an RBI single, knocking in Danny Espinosa, who had started the inning off with a walk, then moved up to second base on Gio Gonzalez’s sacrifice bunt, 1-4, giving the Nats a 4-3 lead, while sending Jayson Werth, who had just walked, over to third base. The Nats increased their lead in the sixth as, with a runner on second, and with nobody out, Morse hits a two-run home run, his sixteenth home run of the year, and his second home run of the ballgame, knocking in LaRoche, who had started the inning off with a double, giving the Nats a 6-3 lead. The Nats then made it a 7-3 lead as, with the bases loaded, via a single by pinch hitter Mark DeRosa, who is then pinch runned for by Eury Perez, a stolen base by Perez, and then walks by Werth and Harper, with Perez and Werth moving up a base on Harper’s walk, and with nobody out, Perez would score as pitcher Jeremy Horst threw a wild pitch on a strikeout of Zimmerman, while both Werth and Harper would move up a base. The Nats tried to make it an 8-3 lead as the next batter, LaRoche hits a grounder to second baseman Utley, who threw a strike to home plate, cutting down Werth, who is tagged out by Kratz for the inning’s second out, as Harper moved up to third base, while LaRoche would be safe at first on the fielder’s choice force out. That would be it for the scoring as Drew Storen ended the game by pitching a 1-2-3 ninth.

Tyler Cloyd (2-2, 4.91) took the lost as he pitched five innings, plus two batters, giving up six runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out four. Jeremy Horst pitched one and two-thirds innings, giving up a run on a hit, two walks and a wild pitch, while striking out three. Phillippe Aumont pitched an inning and a third, giving up a hit, while striking out a batter. Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit, while striking out one. Gio Gonzalez (21-8, 2.89) got the win as he pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out six. Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen combined for three scoreless innings, giving up a hit (Burnett) between them, while striking out two (Clippard).

The Phils had seven hits in the game, with Kevin Frandsen (Single, Double) and Darin Ruf (Single, Double, 3 RBIs) both leading the team with two hits each. Jimmy Rollins (Single), Chase Utley (Single) and Dom Brown (Double) had the other three Phils’ hits. The Phils also had three walks and a stolen base (Utley (10)) in the game.

The Phils (78-78, 3rd) with start their next to last series of the season with the Marlins (66-90, 5th), starting with a night game tonight. The game will be played at Marlins Park and is to start at 7:10 pm EDT. The Phils will send to the mound Cliff Lee (6-8, 3.18), who is coming off a lost against the Braves on September 23, as he went eight innings, giving up two run, only one of which was earned, on nine hits, as he struck out eleven, in the Phils’ 2-1 lost. He will be trying for his seventh winning start. The Marlins will counter with Mark Buehrle (13-13, 3.84), who is coming off a lost against the Mets on September 22, as he went six innings, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks, while striking out three, in the Marlins’ 4-3 win. He will be trying to see if he can dominate the Phils again. The Phils will be trying to see if they can end the season with a winning record.

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